Sep

Enforcement of Arbitral Awards and the Fundamental Principles of Vietnamese Law

In recent years, we have seen the Vietnam courts recognise a growing number of foreign arbitral awards while increasingly declining to set aside domestic arbitral awards. This signals a positive and pro-arbitration landscape in Vietnam, as well as the willingness and openness of Vietnamese courts to recognise and enforce both foreign and domestic arbitral awards. 

Despite the improvement, however, certain challenges remain with respect to the enforcement of arbitral awards in Vietnam. One challenge that has persisted until today is the uncertainty surrounding the "fundamental principles of Vietnamese law", a ground on which a domestic award may be set aside or a foreign award may not be recognised. 

In this Update, we examine how the ground of the "fundamental principles of Vietnamese law" has been defined and/or applied, with reference to Resolution 01 from the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court of Vietnam and decisions of the Vietnamese courts.